Together For The Holidays
by darveysecretsanta2018
Summary: Christmas at the Specters' in Seattle; Louis, Mike and the families come and join Darvey for the holidays


**Prompt by FaireyClairey ( FairySpecter): **Christmas at the Specters' in Seattle; Louis, Mike et al all come for the holidays (family fluff with Lucy Litt and Lily Specter)

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22nd December

Since becoming a father, Harvey had mellowed a little when it came to the holidays, but why he had agreed to invite half of his old firm over for Christmas was beyond him. When Donna had suggested the idea he had thought it would be nice to have everyone together, yet it had proven more stressful than originally anticipated and both he and Donna were now beginning to regret their decision.

"We're never gonna have everything sorted in time!" Donna exclaimed. It was only three days until Christmas; Louis and Sheila would be arriving in less than two hours and nothing was ready, least of all their daughter's nursery, which Lucy would be sharing with Lily.

Harvey took his wife by the waist, turning her towards him. "Sweetie, it'll be fine. They'll understand." Only Donna wasn't so convinced.

"But, we can't let them see our home for the first time with it looking like this." She shrugged away from her husband, embarassed by how neurotic she was acting. This wasn't her. After Lily was born, things changed. She loved being a Mom, but sometimes she just didn't feel like herself anymore.

"Come here!" Taking hold of her hand, he pulled Donna back into his arms and pressed his lips to hers; and for the briefest of moments it was as if the world had melted away and it was just the two of them.

Relenting, she sank deep into his embrace. "Damn you Harvey Specter!" She mumbled as she began to relax into him.

"Leave the nursery to me. You go take care of our daughter." Taking back control was Harvey's specialty and Donna was grateful to have him by her side. Always.

It was now almost 7; Louis and Sheila were running late, and although Harvey was sure that Donna would be in panic mode, she took advantage of the extra time to ensure that everything was perfect. The house was now spotless and she had moved on to feeding Lily. "C'mon Sweetie, eat up for Mommy!" Donna pleaded, attempting to get her daughter to eat even a single spoonful of her food.

"Give me that!" Harvey chuckled, taking the child's spoon from his wife.

Donna slumped back onto the nearest chair, letting her husband take over. "Good Luck. I've been trying to get her to eat that for the last twenty minutes." Thinking there was no way Lily would eat the food, Dona watched in amazement a Harvey fed their daughter with ease; aeroplane sounds and all.

At that exact moment the doorbell rang, making Lily laugh, but before Donna even had a chance to open the door, Louis burst into her home followed by Sheila who was carrying their daughter. "Donna!" He exclaimed throwing his arms wide open ready to encase her in a hug.

"Hey Louis, come in. Harvey's in the kitchen with Lily." At the mere mention of her daughter, Louis' eyes lit up and as Donna closed the door behind them she caught a glimpse of an eye roll from Sheila.

"There she is, my 2nd favourite princess!" Louis was like an excited little puppy. He seemed happier to see Lily, than he did Harvey.

Wiping his daughter's mouth with a wipe, Harvey picked her up just in time for Louis to steal her away. "Nice to see you too Louis." With a sarcastic tone in his voice, he passed straight past his friend and greeted Sheila with a kiss on the cheek. As he did, Lucy managed to get a grip on his finger and refused to let go.

"Do you mind...?" Donna didn't even need to finish her question and Sheila was already handing over her daughter.

"Bathroom?" Suddenly the reason Sheila was in such a rush made perfect sense.

Harvey answered since Donna was too preoccupied with her God-Daughter to pay much attention. "Upstairs. 2nd door on the left." He motioned before joining his wife and Louis cooing over the children.

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Christmas Eve

The past 48 hours had been really good for everyone. Harvey had had one or two things to finish up at the office, so Donna offered to take Louis and Sheila shopping. She had even let Louis coax her into buying the girls matching outfits for Christmas Day and Harvey was not impressed.

"I can't wait to see them all dressed up." Harvey stated, holding up the little reindeer dresses that Louis was showing off.

Since it was Christmas Eve, Harvey had invited Mike and Rachel over for Game Night, but unbeknownst to their other guests, he and Donna had a few more surprises up their sleeves. Two to be precise; who were coming all the way from New York.

The ringing doorbell was a welcome interruption as Louis was still going on about the girls' outfits, but since they all knew who it was, there really wasn't any need for them to physically answer the door. Instead Donna just yelled for them to come in.

"Heeeey. I thought this was supposed to be a party?" Mike called a he sauntered into the living room; his wife trailing behind him with a large gift bag full of presents.

Louis ran right up to Mike, throwing his arms around him as Donna took the presents from Rachel. "Thank you. Mike's been looking forward to this all day." The guys were all pretty competitive with each other, but their wives could give them one hell of a run for their money.

The rest of the gang followed Louis' lead and welcomed Mike and Rachel, who took off their coats and began to settle in to their friend's home and just as Harvey stood to begin the games the front door opened again, revealing the guests that Harvey had kept quiet about. "SURPRISE!" Katrina and Samantha both excaimed in unison.

"Guys, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in New York running our Law Firm. You remember that, don't you? The fact that someone has to be there at all times!" Louis was losing it.

Everyone looked to Katrina to calm him down. Even Sheila. So she tried her best. " Louis, it's fine. Alex opted to stay in New York and take care of the firm and he said he'd call if anything major happened." He had been her mentor since Day 1 and so she was sure that reassuring him was the way forward. It seemed to work.

As Louis moved over to welcome Samantha, Katrina eyed Mike and they fell into old patterns almost immediately. "SHIIIIIT!" They hollered, giving one another a hug. The movie quote had sort of become like their official greeting since a certain case thay had both worked back in the day.

"Now that everyone's here, it's time to get this game night started." Donna, playing the dutiful hostess, addressed the room as she handed out drinks.

Rachel's head dropped. "Actually, not for me." That was unlike her and the refusal made Donna suspicious, but before Donna could ask her best friend what was wrong, Rachel spoke again. "I just want to take it slow tonight, okay. Maybe later."

Not wanting to push her best friend, Donna hacked off, choosing to be supportive. "Sure. Later." The two of them were the last to sit down as Hrvey stood, no doubt to start off the first game.

Putting on his best Greatest Showman impression, which Lily and Lucy both found pretty hilarious, Harvey commanded the attention of every singer person. "WELCOME LADIES AND GENTLEMEN TO CHRISTMAS FAMILY GAME NIGHT." Laughter broke out among his friends and he tried so hard tot to join in. "FIRST UP TONIGHT WE HAVE CHARADES!" As everyone settled down for a night of fun and games, the thoughts that had been distractions of the day slowly drifted into the subconscious ; forgotten until another day began.

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Christmas Morning

The alarm was blaring, and reaching over to turn it off, Donna sat bolt upright in bed, shaking Harvey awake. "It's 7am Harvey. Get up. IT'S SEVEN AM!" Both of them were now panicking; Donna rummaging around on the floor for her robe, and Harvey grabbing his slippers.

They rushed straight into the nursery to find Sheila rocking Lily back to sleep. "Oh Thank God!" The relief was evident on Donna's face as she leant into Harvey.

"I hope you don't mind. I couldn't get back to sleep after I got Lucy back down and she started crying." The truth was Donna didn't mind at all and taking her daughter back from her friend wouldn't do anyone any good right now, she chose to wait until Lily had fallen back to sleep to leave the room instead.

"I guess I'll go wake Louis then." Harvey had barely left the room when Sheila called for him not to. She explained how worried he had been about the firm recently and how peaceful he had looked. When both he and Donna agreed not to wake him, Harvey decided to make a start on breakfast leaving the women to reflect on last night's events.

Everyone had loved the surprise they had planned and although they had also invited Alex and his family, yet Alex had insisted that the girls come and that he stay behind and run the firm over the holidays. Harvey had thought it quite noble, but things just weren't the same without him here. Mike and Rachel, however, had offered Samantha and Katrina their guest room since their only alternative was a pull out sofa bed in the Specter's living room.

"She's asleep." Sheila's statement brought Donna back to reality. She had been so distracted that she hadn't even realised that her daughter had been placed back into her cot.

Having gone downstairs, they were greeted by Harvey in the kitchen. "Just in time for my world famous Christmas Cranberry Pancakes.!" He exclaimed, as Donna tried her hardest to contain her laughter. "What?" He asked playfully.

"Well, they're not exactly World famous honey!" She chuckled, leaning over to give her husband a kiss.

Interrupting and not giving a damn was something Louis did often, so his friends should expect nothing less. "SHEILA! WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME?" He yelled, scurrying into the kitchen. "I woke up and you and Lucy were both gone. I was worried something had happened to you both." Rushing to his wife's side, he retrieved his daughter from Donna's arms. Turning his attention to his two best friends, he began yelling at them too. "AND YOU TWO; HOW COULD YOU TWO LET ME SLEEP IN LIKE THAT? YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE CHRISTMAS!" It was true. Louis was like an excited little kid at christmas.

"We're sorry. Merry Christmas!" Donna ventured, knowing that it had to be her to apologise on behalf of both herself and Harvey.

For a second, she thought it had worked, but no such luck. "Never; and I mean never, do that again!" Louis was practically shaking as he grabbed hold of Sheila and enveloped her in a hug.

"Okay, Okay, I won't. Now can you please let go of me. I can't breathe." He did as she asked and released her, but he remained close by.

"Pancakes anyone? They're my world famous christmas cranberry pancakes!" Hrvey was not giving up on his pancakes.

Louis, unable to contain his hunger blurted out that he would have some and this seemed to appease Harvey. Both Sheila and Donna caved and took a plate too, and they had to be honest, the pancakes were pretty good.

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Christmas Day

Lily woke up again a little after breakfast and Louis insisted almost immediately that he and Harvey put their daughters in the matching reindeer dresses he and Donna had bought.

The rest of the gang had just arrived and already the women were in the kitchen making a start on dinner, since the turkey would need at least 4 hours to cook. As Donna poured herself a small glass of wine, she offered the bottle to her friends, asking if they too would like some. Rachel again refused, making Donna think something really was wrong. Waiting for the others to leave the room, Donna then asked, "Taking it slow today, are we?" The question was rhetorical, but she need Rachel to answer when the look in her eyes only affirmed her suspicions. "You know I'm here if you wanna talk right?" Her best friend only nodded in acknowledgement.

Katrina popped her head back around the door. "Guys you need to get in here. Louis is driving us all crazy; I swear he's about to burst into song any minute." The three women all shared a knowing look; understanding that they needed to stop him.

"Shall we exchange gifts." The idea distracted Louis, who once again became rather overly excited. Donna then positioned herself next to Harvey and the tree, placing her daughter on her knee. Sheila was opposite her with Lucy and they were surrounded by everyone else; all eagerly awaiting their gifts.

Harvey picked up a small present wrapped with blue, shiny snowflake paper. He read the label and passed the gift to his wife. "This one is for Lily, from Louis and Sheila, the latter of which looked a little worried, as she was aware that this was the gift that Louis chose himself.

Carefully unwrapping the present with Lily, Donna was excited to see what her friends had bought for her daughter. Seconds later, she lifted up a small onsie, on which was printed the term 'YOU JUST GOT LITT UP'.

"Do you like it? Lucy has one too." Louis' smile stretched from ear to ear and Donna idn't have the heart to tell him that she didn't really like it.

Thankfully Harvey interjected on their behalf. "It's great Louis. Thank You." This made his friend happy, but Donna could tell that her husband had no intention of ever letting Lily wear that onesie.

As they moved on to the next gift, which was a large box for Sheila, from Katrina, Rachel excused herself, looking a little queasy. Still suspicious, Donna handed Lily to Harvey and followed her friend until she reached the locked bathroom door, where she heard a sound that she knew all too well coming from inside.

"Rachel, are you okay?" She was genuinely concerned for her friend now because they never kept secrets from one another. "Look, I'm pretty sure I know what's going on, so can you let me in?" There was a short silence before the door slowly opened revealing Rachel slumped over near the toilet in case she felt the need to vomit again, which no doubt she would. "How long?" Donna asked, her best friend knowing exactly what she was getting at.

"About 9 weeks. Mike's the only one who knows and we were waiting to tell people until the 12 week mark, so can you not say anything to anyone?" With tears streaming down her face, Rachel attempted to stand back up, but her knees buckled beneath her and instead she fell back to the floor, throwing her head over the toilet to appease the new wave of nausea that washed over her.

Donna respected Rachel's decision, with she herself having made the same one. "I won't." She reassured her friend, holding her hair back as she puked.

Once she was done, she urged Donna to go back downstairs and rejoin the group, promising that she would be down shortly; and true to her word, she arrived in the living room only a few minutes after Donna, with only her own gifts left to open.

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Christmas Dinner

Everyone seemed really pleased with all the gifts they had received, and Rachel had done a pretty good job of hiding just how nauseous she was, but now that Donna knew the truth, she had begun to feel as though a small weight had been lifted.

She watched as Donna and Sheila both placed their daughters into their high chairs ready for dinner. "Food's ready!" Harvey called out, disrupting her thoughts.

As everyone took their seats around the table, Rachel kept her gaze on Lily and Lucy, who were making each other laugh in their adorable little dresses. She couldn't hep but think about how it could be her own daughter that got to wear one too. "You want to tell them, don't you?" It was as if Mike had read her mind; she hated lying to her friends, and she didn't need to tell him that. "We'll talk about it later, okay?" He offered and she gave a weak nod in agreement.

Donna cleared her throat. "If everyone could raise their glasses." They did and she continued. "To Friends. To Family. And to the Future." It was a great toast and as everyone repeated it, Donna took it all in. She was surrounded by her best friends at Christmas; an she was happy.

Harvey began to carve the turkey, so naturally Louis took the opportunity to discuss the gifts her got everyone. "So did you all like the presents I got you?" No one dared speak. The truth was Louis always put a lot of effort into choosing the perfect gifts, but more often than not he takes things a little too far.

"Ummm, " It was Harvey that broke the silence, knowing he had to be one to take the fall and say what what everyone else was thinking. "Sorry to tell you this, but I really don't like that onsie you got for Lily. Actually I hate it." He said it so matter of factly that it was almost as if he didn't care about Louis' feelings at all.

"Harvey, I'm offended! I put a lot of thought into that present!" By now, every single pair of eyes in the room were glued to the dispute unfolding before them. All but those of Lily and Lucy, who were still giggling away, completely oblivious to what was going on.

Harvey remained straight faced. "I'm sorry, but I assumed you wanted us to be honest." That's exactly what Louis had wanted, but he didn't for one second believe that anyone had disliked their gift.

An argument ensued and for the next ten minutes both Harvey and Louis' voices grew louder and louder to the point where it was near unbearable for others.

Just as they were about to leave, Rachel caught Mike's eye and in that moment they made a decision that could change everything. She stood, gathering courage from Mike as he gripped her hand tight, and with a sharp intake of breath she spoke. "I'm pregnant!" She blurted; the announcement sending most of her friend into a stunned silence.

Mike also stood, supporting his wife. "We weren't going to say anything at first. We wanted to wait, but Rachel hated keeping it from all of you." Out of the corner of his eye he saw the look on Donna's face; the fact that she already knew, blaringly obvious to him.

Samantha was the first to congratulate the pair, reaching over to hug Rachel. Sheila followed suit, as Harvey and Mike had their own little momentary celebration.

The fighting had stopped, but Louis wasn't going to forget what Harvey had said anytime soon. He knew however, that right now it was about Rachel and Mike's wonderful news. He would deal with Harvey later. "This is fantastic news, but how about we finish dinner before it gets cold; and then we can celebrate properly." As over dramatic as ever, Louis made it clear that he had moved on from his issue with his so-called best friend. For now at least. So everyone did as he suggested and settled back into the seats ready to enjoy their meal.

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After Dinner

"Can I hold her?" Rachel hadn't taken her eyes off of her God-Daughter throughout the entirety of dinner and now it was over, she didn't waste a second.

Donna gave Lily over to her best friend and watched as her daughter eagerly outstretched her arms towards her Godmother. "Of course. "She replied as Lily grasped Rache's necklace in her tiny fist and began playing with it. "So... what happened to not telling anyone?" She nudged her best friend jokingly, provoking an unexpected reaction.

"Is Mommy being nasty to Aunty Rachel? Is she? Yes she is!" The baby speak made Rachel sound a little crazy, but Donna found it rather amusing.

Before she had a chance to respond, Samantha, Katrina and Sheils approached them. "You know; you're a natural with kids." The latter stated however, Rachel's attention remained divided. She still couldn't take her eyes off Lily.

"You really think so?" Rachel managed to ask, not so confident in herself and her ability to be a good mom.

"Look, I know we're not exactly close, but I do know what constitutes a bad parent, and believe me that is not you and Mike. You are both going to make great parents." Samantha was being honest and Rachel appreciated what she had said. It made her feel a little better.

"Thank you guys. It really means a lot." Her voice suddenly faltered, and Donna swore she saw a tear stroll down Rache's cheek as she spoke.

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Bar that small disagreement at dinner, Harvey figured that this Christmas had been a success after all. As he scanned the room, he saw all of his friends laughing and having a good time; celebrating the holidays and the newly announced addition to the group. He realised that this was what christmas with family was supposed to be like. They may be somewhat dysfunctional, yet each person brought something unique to the mix and all were just as important and as valued as the next. This was his family, together for the holiday for the first time, and hopefully it wouldn't be the last.


End file.
